The best new albums this week
The return of Birmingham’s greatest heads up our weekly roundup
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Surgeon – Crash Recoil (Tresor)
It’s hard to imagine anything that could possibly be more of a techno-ists dreamboat than this. One of the most important and respected names in the UK sound offering up his first new album in five years. More so, releasing this long-awaited offering through a Berlin institution that was at the forefront of fast, heavy noise back in 1991 and remains one of the strongest forces representing this end of the dance music spectrum. All bow.
There are more reasons to celebrate Crash Recoil than credits alone, mind. As explained in the sleeve notes, its arrival marks the end of a long-form hiatus for Surgeon, which involved asking hard questions about his role as a techno DJ amid an apparent lack of inspiration. Given he’s been heavily involved in the genre since the turn of the 1990s, it’s easy to sympathise.
Especially when you consider just how much the scene, not to mention business, has developed and mutated during that time. Many parties in 2023 would be almost unrecognisable to revellers back then. The idea of the soundtrack spreading internationally may not scream problematic, but when that winds up with the globalisation of what was a subversive culture it can take every ounce of energy to keep the faith.
Whether that’s what happened here is anyone’s guess, but no matter what the issue facing the producer was, the response is the only logical route forward. Rather than trying to emulate or recreate the foundations and structure of a traditional electronic music LP, he’s re-thought the approach from the ground up. “This is not a live album,” according to the man responsible. Nevertheless, anyone who has seen and heard him performing one of those now-legendary live club sets will attest to the fact this is probably as close to that as you’ll find.
While clearly separated into tunes, from the moment ‘Oak Bank’ opens the scoring it’s impossible not to sense an air of spontaneity, sounds becoming movements then wider soundscapes, sucking us further into the wormhole before dropping us off somewhere new, yet familiar. It’s a feeling that shouldn’t be so rare and yet has become increasingly hard to find. So, tempting as it is to dissect the individual tracks — the vortex like acid hooks spiralling throughout ‘Metal Pig’, the joy of the dub bass set against a veritable lightning storm of high end detail in ‘Masks & Archetypes’, the sheer euphoria of realising how much energy the expertly executed ride cymbals carry on ‘Subcultures’ — this almost defeats the point.
Instead, it feels more appropriate to convey Tresor’s latest release in ways we’d apply to the experience of watching Surgeon in full flow. So many points of varying influence are audible within this complex collage it’s hard not to get lost in the work before realising how deep you’ve gone. The process behind this, apparently allowing himself to be led by differences in each iteration of a sequence, rather than obsessing over replicating the exact arrangement made last time, seems to have reinforced the truth that techno still has plenty of wildernesses to explore, you just need to let it guide you. Something, sadly, we all need reminding of, from time to time.
MH
Full Of Hell/Primitive Man – Suffocating Hallucination (Closed Casket Activities)
When it comes to collaborative efforts of the most heinous variety, extreme metal visionaries Full Of Hell have essentially cornered the black market. Be it exploring their harsh noise machinations to the fullest depravity with Merzbow, or channelling their inner post-metal grandiosity with The Body, the group’s prolific nature has always assured listeners of two factoids: 1. You’ll never be waiting too long for another project. 2. If you’ve recently digested a solo work, a collaboration is almost certainly on the way.
All of this being said, fans were still ecstatic to learn of Suffocating Hallucination; a new endeavour crafted in tandem with Denver, Colorado based doom-sludge trio Primitive Man. Taking both acts on their core traits, Full Of Hell primarily deal in death-grind fusion with some blackened aspects and a powerviolence twist, with their tracks rarely crossing the two-minute threshold and their average album length clocking in at approximately 20 minutes and some change. Primitive Man on the other hand, are the type of abyss dwellers that deal in lengthy sonic dirges, often running for well over an hour at a time, with their latest Insurmountable EP literally being longer than any full-length LP from their would-be collaborators.
What happens when you combine two unmatched forces of modern extremity into one nightmare-fuelled hellscape of sonic torture? You get precisely that. From the moment ‘Trepanation of Future Joys’ begins its cavernous descent into dread, it becomes evident that this project is deeply rooted in the caustic, heaving doom Primitive Man have made their audible home. At just under ten minutes, it’s a desolate affair with muted anguish broken sparsely by moments of throated howls and shrieking fury.
‘Rubble Home’ is a more equal work with the frantic bombast of Full Of Hell’s clustering wall of abrasion warring with the crawling despondency of their counterparts, while ‘Bludgeon’ is a reliable 25-second barrage of grinding bedlam. The main bedrock of the project is the final two complimentary pieces, ‘Dwindling Will’ and ‘Tunnels To God’; resulting in a near 20-minute ambient harsh-noise excursion that allows both groups to indulge in their more experimental, dissonant extremes.
Ugly, slow, unwelcoming and vile, Suffocating Hallucination does its utmost to earn its nihilistic title, and offers little in the way of hope on its successful pilgrimage into the abyss.
ZB
100 Gecs – 10,000 Gecs (Big Beat)
The experimental hyperpop duo of Dylan Brady and Laura Les, better known as 100 Gecs, caused mass ripple effects through a myriad of scenes when they dropped their debut full-length 1000 Gecs in 2019.
Taking a purposefully obnoxious maximalist approach to glitch, chiptune, gabba, trap and pop-punk, their mission statement appeared to be one of drawing on several of the most “annoying” genres modern music has to offer, and combining them into an abrasive, lysergic clusterfuck of head-melting proportions, yet all the while retaining an undeniable and instantaneous catchiness that made them somewhat impossible to loathe.
While both artists have operated behind the scenes for many years with Brady an accomplished producer for the likes of Charli XCX and Dorian Electra, and Les an underground starlet of her own design, the swell of exposure granted to their Gecs project was as unprecedented as it was welcome.
In the four-year aftermath of WTF success the pair have garnered, even releasing a companion remix album, 1000 Gecs & The Tree Of Clues (which featured contributions from a broad degree of acts who all somehow make sense sharing credits on a Gecs release such as Fall Out Boy, Kero Kero Bonito, Rico Nasty and Tommy Cash to name but a select few), hype has grown astronomically for when and what form the fan-predicted 10,000 Gecs would take.
The release of first single/closing track ‘MeMeMe’ would serve as an initial indicator of their slightly more streamlined stance with its anthemic hook and fuzzed out guitar lines, while ‘Doritos & Fritos’ pushed the boat out even further into full on weirdo grunge, complete with a thick bass line and psychedelic warbling.
The final pre-release single, ‘Hollywood Baby’, offered up a saccharine, nostalgic pop-punk powerhouse that only showcases its more avant-pop stylings through the now standard auto-tune vocal manipulations the pair pull off so effortlessly, while the presence of ska-punk banger ‘stupid horse’ from their debut is greatly expanded upon with the absurdist ‘Frog On The Floor’ and ‘I Got My Tooth Removed’, both making bold claims for the electro-ska-punk revival we didn’t realise was so desperately needed.
While still undeniably bizarre and unpredictable for the most part, this long-gestating sophomore effort appeases and withholds equally, sometimes catering to the anticipated glitch-hop pop on cuts like ‘Dumbest Girl Alive’ and ‘757’, yet the nu-metal stylings of ‘Billy Knows Jamie’ which trades its rap-rock verses for a cerebral cybercore breakdown (echoing the latter half of ‘800db cloud’) is as ridiculous as it is expertly executed.
Rather than attempting to deliver a direct sequel to their debut or trying and failing to re-capture that initial digital lunacy, Brady and Les have dove deep into the sprawling dynamic aspects that make up their fractured sound and taken the time to allow those influences to balloon from micro-segments into full tracks. Potentially less extreme but equally fun, it’s truly anyone’s guess what sonic guise will be adorned come the release of the all-but-assured 100,000 Gecs. Watch this space.
ZB
Yoni – My Little Yoni (My King Is Light)
Here’s a deep cover reissue from the hidden folds of the mid 90s techno explosion. Yoni is an early iteration of Vulva, the project Thomas Melchior and Tim Hutton started out with before going their separate ways. These days you’re more likely to find Melchior tunnelling deep into minimal house at a Get Perlonized night, but in the early days he and Hutton were making some wonderfully maverick electronica which found early homes on Rephlex and Move D’s seminal Source Records.
Originally out in 1994 and only ever on CD, My Little Yoni has remained reliably cult since its release and now it’s finally getting an airing on wax with a fresh remaster to boot. Of course it absolutely reeks of the era, pivoting on the classic tenets of drum machines, synths and samplers, but what Melchior and Hutton had in their toolkit throughout their collaborations was a sense of jazziness which spilled out in the playful, expressive melodic lines, the choice of samples and even the artful FX splashes. It’s music which teems with energy and invention, certainly not just another typical product of the deep techno you could hear being made in 1994.
From the cosmically-charged space walk of ‘Spirit Of Adventure’ to the deadly house shuffle of ‘P-Yonic’, there are some truly mind-blowing tunes on this album which will no doubt worm their way into a fair few sets with this considered reissue from Melchior’s own pet label My King Is Light.
OW
Periphery – Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre (3Dot)
Grammy-nominated Washington progressive metal pioneers, Periphery, have been at the forefront of the hyper-technical, groove-laden Djent movement since before the scene even bore such an internally controversial moniker.
Known for their trudging heft, compositional wizardry and frontman Spencer Sotelo’s effortless ability to switch from unhinged shrieks and cavernous bellows to an enigmatic clean vocal range that Michael Jackson couldn’t hold a candle to, the group have garnered a worldwide cult following due to their constant reinvention of a genre they were so integral in spearheading.
As the definition of take your music seriously but never yourself, album titles have always served up a slice of tongue in cheek playfulness, which had seemingly come to ahead with 2019’s Periphery IV: Hail Stan, but the even more obtuse V: Djent Is Not A Genre is not only their most asinine name for a full-length yet, but also their finest work to date.
Maximising every facet of their core sound, cuts like the blisteringly heavy opening lead single ‘Wildfire’ or the frenetic chaos of ‘Everything Is Fine!’, trade fractured time signatures and violent breakdowns like Wall Street stockbrokers, whereas the more melodious turn on ‘Wax Wings’, is a serenely triumphant display of emotive prog-rock. Even the centrepiece intermission from the sonic mayhem, ‘Silhouette’ evokes John Carpenter-esque 80’s synthwave film scores, while the final two mammoth ten minute + tracks, ‘Dracul Gras’ and ‘Thanks Nobuo’, channel the modern classical orchestral arrangements that serve as interludes throughout the record into a culminative grandiose finale of incomparable vision and finesse.
With a group as seasoned and impressive as Periphery, they often appear to primarily be in competition with themselves and their own previous output. With that in mind, Djent Is Not A Genre not only decimates any would-be contemporaries, but transcends above the band’s entire back catalogue with a work that’s heavier, meaner, more extreme, technical, expansive and melodic, all whilst retaining their individuality and charm. Take note, this is the bar setter for all metal releases for the remainder of 2023, whether Djent be a genre, label, movement or the friends we’ve made along the way.
ZB
Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra – Racing The Storm (Bella Union)
While Emiliana Torrini’s Icelandic/Italian heritage may have had her pegged as a mini Bjork when she signed to One Little Independent in the late 90s, she has come a long, long way since ‘Love In The Time Of Science’ her debut for the label.
Here, working again with Belgium duo Aarich Jespers and Kobe Proesmans and their Colourist Orchestra, she finds her natural foil. Jespers and Proesmans specialise in rearranging the repertoires of guest singer-songwriters applying their unorthodox, delicate use of classical instruments to great effect. They first hooked up for a bunch of reworkings on 2016’s ‘The Colorist Orchestra & Emiliana Torrini’. It was a partnership that clearly worked well as both parties felt like an album of new work would reap rewards. Boy, does it.
Torrini has a voice you could listen to all day. It’s utterly captivating, barely there, yet it demands your full attention. The cornerstone here is the jaunty ‘Right Here’, which soars in a way only Torrini knows how. She says it’s “sung from a daydream while being poked repeatedly in the shoulder by the outside world”, which is a description as delightful as the track itself.
‘Hilton’ too really hits the spot, its mix and match soundbite lyrics – “Tiger prowling / car horns blaring / meercats staring / neighbours fighting / traffic humming / water falling” – are a joy.
The videos that accompany the tracks released as singles are well worth a visit too. They’re as brilliantly creative and inventive as the music contained within. Excellent stuff all round really.
NM
Big Laugh – Consume Me (Revelation)
Milwaukee based hardcore new schoolers, Big Laugh, have seemingly come out of nowhere with their feral, snarling debut full-length, Consume Me. Releasing their self-titled demo in 2019 with little in the way of aspirations for how many people would connect with their sonic stew of hardcore influences, it wasn’t until 2020’s Manic Revision EP dropped that the members began to understand the legs their project truly had.
Citing inspiration from Youth Crew acts such as Gorilla Biscuits, as well as far heavier hardcore outfits ranging from Necros to Die Kreuzen to Judge, there’s an urgent sense of uncertainty teeming from their 19-minute LP.
From the opening squall of ‘Artificial Peace’ which careens directly into the frantic ‘Abomination’, one would be forgiven for presuming the project to be a rather one-note affair of fuzzed out aggro-core, but when the grunge twang of ‘Square One’ diverts the energy towards a more danceable form of two-stepping mayhem, their dynamic side begins to pour through the cracks in their vicious facade.
‘Shadow Figure’ dips another toe into more melodious waters with its frenzied hook while the grooving heft of closer ‘The Fall’ (the only cut to make it over the three-minute mark) illustrates their myriad of dynamic influences, reigned into one distilled love letter; prioritising brevity and pace yet all the while paying homage to the varying shapes and forms hardcore can take.
ZB
This week’s reviewers: Zach Buggy, Martin Hewitt, Neil Mason, Oli Warwick.